THE ECHO

ENVIRONMENTAL VOICES

NEWSLETTER December 2015

Contents:

Mission Statement……………………………….……………………………………...…...... 2 Geoengineering Event at the Capital January 2016………….…………………...2 Past Events……………………………….……………….....……………………...…………….3 Climate Change Summit…………….....……………………………………………………. 4 GMO vs. Wild Salmon…................………………….……………………………………….. 5 Synthetic Turf Study in California………………………………………….………..….. 6 Prop 65 Delisting of a mixed class of chemicals..…………………….…………… 7 Is Eating Organic Enough to Reduce Harmful Exposures?..…………….......... 7 Plasticizers Affect Children’s IQ…………………………………..………………………8 Two popular pesticides under scrutiny.....……………………..…………….……… 8 Monsanto on Trial……………………………………………...……………………………… 9 Diet Lessons from Hunter-Gatherers…………………………………………….……. 9 Oppose the DARK Act Today……………………………………………………………. 10 Environmental Rights……………………………………………………………………... 10

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

2

Mission Statement

Our mission is to help preserve our future

by providing education and research about

toxic chemicals and how they affect our

health and the environment.

A Special Thank You

Thank You to those dedicated individuals

that have made Environmental Voices

stronger and more effective than ever in

bringing attention to the impacts of

pollutants in our environment.

Generous donations from concerned

citizens have provided the resources

needed to continue Environmental

Voices’ work and to expand our efforts on

important environmental issues such as

geoengineering, GMOs, fracking, and

others.

Happy Holidays, and Thank You for your

continued support. We are truly making a

difference.

Events

Geoengineering Event at the Capitol:

California for Natural Skies

January 13, 2016 (Wednesday)

10:00am - 3:00pm

North Steps of the California State

Capitol, Sacramento

On January 13th a statewide event will be

held in Sacramento at the State Capital

Building. Please help spread the word

and help to make this the largest event

yet on geoengineering awareness.

Activists concerned about poorly

regulated weather modification

technology are joining to speak up for

cleaner skies and public oversight of

atmospheric programs. For more

information, join Sierra Nevada

Geoengineering Awareness and get

involved to make this the largest

geoengineering awareness event yet.

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

3

Special guest speakers and musicians will

be featured, and there will be an

opportunity to collaborate with other

groups statewide. There will also be an

opportunity to split up into groups by

congressional district in order to

distribute literature to assembly

members and senators.

Visit the event page to learn more and to

find out how you can help to make this

one of the most collaborative statewide

geoengineering rallies to date.

Link to the Event Page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1644

894569092865/

Past Events

Green Festival

Environmental Voices was at the Green

Festival this year providing information

on today’s pressing environmental issues

at America's largest and longest-Running

Sustainability and Green Living event.

The Grinch Who Stole Water

Activists worked together to shutdown business as usual for Nestlé’s bottling

plant in Sacramento, bringing media

attention to the issue of water conservation

during the severe drought in California.

Link to the Article:

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/12/04/environment-activists-protest-outside-of-nestle-plant-in-sacramento/

1,838,451,342 gallons of water has been taken from the U.S. National Forest by Nestlé® since their permit expired in 1988. The California drought is four years strong, and 2014 was the hottest, driest year on record for the state.

Link to the Website:

http://storyofstuff.org/nestle/?utm_sour

ce=SOSsocial

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

4

“Campaign group The Story of Stuff Project

have just announced they will be pursuing

legal action against Nestlé for illegally

extracting groundwater in California

for its Arrowhead brand, which has been

a key contributor to the State’s drought

crisis.”

Folsom Lake, California now reduced to less than 15% capacity

“Thanks to generous donations from a

huge number of furious citizens, The Story

Of Stuff Project was able to raise enough

money to film a mini-documentary called

‘This land is our land’. It tells the story of

Nestlé’s removal of millions of gallons of

water from the San Bernardino National

Forest- and it details evidence of criminal

activity by one of the world’s most

unethical corporations.”

Link to the Article:

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/1

0/14/nestle-to-be-sued-for-californian-

drought-crimes/

Climate Change Summit

Since 1992, annual international meetings

have been held to discuss global efforts to

reduce the impacts of global warming.

More than 150 nations first agreed at Rio de

Janeiro first agreed to work together to

stabilize greenhouse gas emissions to

“prevent dangerous anthropogenic

interference with the climate system.”

“Paris will almost certainly not produce an ironclad, planet-saving agreement in two weeks. But it can succeed in an important way that earlier meetings have not — by fostering collective responsibility, a strong sense among countries large and small, rich and poor, that all must play a part in finding a global solution to a global problem.”

“The organizers of the Paris conference have learned a lot from past mistakes. Instead of pursuing a top-down agreement with mandated targets, they have asked every country to submit a national plan that lays out how and by how much they plan to reduce emissions in the years ahead. So far, more than 170 countries, accounting for

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

5

over 90 percent of global greenhouse emissions, have submitted pledges, and more may emerge in Paris.” Link to the Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/opinion/sunday/what-the-paris-climate-meeting-must-do.html?_r=0

GMO vs. Wild Salmon?

TheFDA has approved the sale of genetically modified salmon in the U.S., without sufficient safety testing and despite

the vocal opposition of literally hundreds of

thousands of concerned citizens.

“This GMO fish poses serious risks to the

environment and the health of people who

eat it. It could soon show up on your grocery

store shelves, and because it's not required

to be labeled, you won't be able to avoid it!”

Link to the Petition: https://secure.foodandwaterwatch.org/si

te/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAct

ion&id=2423&s_src=mo&s_subsrc=1115

Click on the link above to sign the petition

to send a message to the President and to

Congress: we need you to represent the

people’s concerns and stop the FDA

approval of GMO salmon without labeling.

For a greater impact, call your congress

member today and write them a

personalized letter explaining your

concerns.

“‘This unfortunate, historic decision

disregards the vast majority of consumers,

many independent scientists, numerous

members of Congress and salmon growers

around the world, who have voiced strong

opposition’ Wenonah Hauter, executive

director of Food & Water Watch, said in a

statement.”

Link to the Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/business/genetically-engineered-salmon-approved-for-consumption.html?hp& action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0 One of the greatest concerns about GMO

salmon are the environmental impacts of

their potential widespread use. If the

super-fast growing GMO salmon ever

escaped to produce viable hybrids with

wild salmon in an unlikely, but possible,

‘Jurassic Park’ -like situation, critically

threatened salmon species may be

pushed even further to extinction.

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

6

Already, the last commercially viable salmon run in the state, the Sacramento Fall River run of Chinook Salmon, is under intense pressure. The winter run is endangered, and is protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, “Reckless water management might wipe out California's Chinook salmon — and the state's fishing industry along with it…

...For the second summer in a row, environmentalists and fishermen say, an entire year class of the endangered winter-run Chinook was mostly annihilated.” Link to the Article: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/salmon-rip/Content?oid=4596490

Synthetic Turf Study California is conducting a $3 million study on the health impacts of rubber crumbs in artificial turf, due to public concerns including anecdotal evidence of cancer in soccer goalies So far, officials say there is no documented risk, but data gaps in scientific studies warrant further research. Jerry Hill, author of a bill that died in the face of strong lobbying opposition, is determined to revive legislation requiring consideration for non-toxic alternatives to the recycled tires, which can contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic, and other toxins.

“SB 47 originally required a study

concerning the adverse health impacts to be

conducted by the Office of Environmental

Health Hazard Assessment in consultation

with other state health and environmental

departments. Now, the OEHHA has begun

the study on its own and the bill would

remain in effect until it’s completed in 2018.

Link to the Article: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles /lnews/2015-11-03/hill-takes-on-tires-in-turf-senator-renews-push-for-bill-requiring-schools-cities-to-consider-alternatives-to-recycled-tires/1776425152944.html Public concerns have been highlighted by the media and a recent documentary. “Washington State University soccer coach Amy Griffin first raised the concerns when she noticed she was visiting more young soccer goalies in cancer clinics than ever before...”

Griffin “…put together a list of 38 U.S. soccer players who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. What alarmed her was that 34 of them were goalies. That caught the attention of Julie Foudy, a former U.S. national team captain and now a journalist for ESPN, who made a documentary on the concerns.” Link to the Article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/artificial-turf-rubber-crumbs-cancer-documentary-1.3307224

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

7

To follow the progress of the study by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and to be notified of future meetings and workshops, you can register for the OEHHA Synthetic Turf Listserv at: http://oehha.ca.gov/risk/ SyntheticTurfStudies.html and submit comments or questions to SyntheticTurf@oehha.ca.gov. Link to the Article:

www.oehha.ca.gov/risk/SyntheticTurfStu

dies/SynthTurfWS101615.html

Prop 65 Delisting of a mixed

class of chemicals

Industry interests and scientific data gaps

may help explain the actions of a state

agency to remove a class of chemicals in

common products such as hair dyes from

the state’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals

known to the state to cause cancer.

“While the US Environmental Protection

Agency (US EPA) (1988) document that

provided the basis for the listing indicates

that the hazard ranking of diaminotoluene

(mixed) “is applicable to all isomers of

diaminotoluene”, and that the “evidence

on potential carcinogenicity from

animal studies is “sufficient”, the US EPA

document also indicates that “this evidence

is based on the carcinogenic properties of

the isomer 2,4-diaminotoluene”…At a

public meeting on November 4, 2015, the

CIC determined that [the carcinogenicity

of] diaminotoluene (mixed) has not been

clearly shown, through scientifically valid

testing according to generally accepted

principles, to cause cancer. Therefore,

diaminotoluene (mixed) is delisted

effective November 20, 2015.”

Link to the Article:

http://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/CRNR_notic

es/list_changes/112015delistDAT.html

Is Eating Organic Enough to

Reduce Harmful Exposures?

“When parents spend the extra money to

feed their children organic food, it’s often

in hope of keeping the overall amount of

pesticides in their bodies to a minimum. (If

you’ve seen this popular video of the

Swedish family that made the switch, you

know what we’re talking about.) But a new

study by a team of scientists at the

University of California, Berkeley

suggests that diet is only part of the

equation, especially for kids who might

be exposed to insecticides at home or

pesticides from agricultural fields

nearby.”

Link to the Article:

http://civileats.com/2015/11/03/is-

feeding-your-child-organic-food-enough-

to-remove-the-pesticides-from-her-body-

farmworkers-food-safety/

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

8

Plasticizers Harm Children’s IQ

“Phthalates are a family of industrial

chemicals that are widely used as

plasticizers or softeners in a variety of

commercial products, including food

packaging, medical equipment, toys,

furniture and cosmetics… NHRI researcher

Wang Shu-li (王淑麗) on Thursday

announced the results of the 12-year study,

saying that a 100 percent increase in

children’s urinary phthalate metabolite

levels lowers IQ scores by about 1 point.”

Link to the Article:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw

an/archives/2015/11/29/2003633605

Neurotoxic Insecticide and

Common Herbicide under

scrutiny

Dow AgroSciences’ organophosphate

insecticide chlorpyrifos may be banned

for all agricultural uses by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency.

“The proposal comes in response to a study

the agency released on the insecticide late

last year that found chlorpyrifos may be

causing unreasonable health risks to

workers and to people who get their

drinking water from small watersheds”

Link to the Article:

http://www.bna.com/court-order-epa-

n57982062982/

Chlorpyrifos was recently reclassified as a

restricted use material by the Department

of Pesticide Regulation in California,

requiring only certified handlers to apply

the pesticide for agricultural purposes.

Link to the webpage:

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/legbills/ru

lepkgs/14-002/14-002.htm

Activists are calling for a ban on all

agricultural uses of one of the nation’s

most widely used herbicides, RoundUp.

The active ingredient, glyphosate, was

recently determined by an international

agency to be a probable human

carcinogen.

“According to the Center for Biological

Diversity, eight counties – Tulare, Fresno,

Merced, Madera and Kern counties in the

San Joaquin Valley plus Del Norte, Lake

and Imperial – account for 54% of the

state’s use of glyphosate.”

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

9

Link to the Article:

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/busine

ss/agriculture/article42422457.html

Monsanto on Trial

Strong opposition from lobbyists has

slowed progress on human health

protective measures. Environmental

activists are pursuing legal action to

evoke a response that not arising from

political representatives likely swayed by

monetary contributions from industry.

“Dozens of global food, farming and

environmental justice groups

announced today that they will put

Monsanto MON (NYSE), a US-based

transnational corporation, on trial for

crimes against nature and humanity,

and ecocide, in The Hague, Netherlands,

next year on World Food Day, October 16,

2016.”

Link to the Article:

https://www.organicconsumers.org/pres

s/global-food-farming-and-

environmental-justice-groups-put-

monsanto-trial-crimes-against-human

The State Water Resources Control Board

has determined that polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs) present in San Francisco

bay are cause for concern due to their

persistence and ability to biomagnify up

the food chain.

“Monsanto knowingly contaminated

Oakland’s storm water and the San

Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical

for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the

California city claims. Oakland wants the

company to pay for the environmental

cleanup.”

Link to the Article:

https://www.rt.com/usa/321630-

oakland-monsanto-contamination-

lawsuit/

Diet lessons From Hunter-

Gatherers

A documentary focusing on the rich

microbiome (ecosystem of microbes

within the digestive system) and diverse

diet of the nomadic Hazda, who live long

lives and suffer fewer diet-related

diseases and cancers than more modern

Tanzanians.

“’In Defense of Food’ is based on Michael

Pollan’s best-selling 2008 book of the same

name, and premieres on PBS on December

30. In the film, director Michael Schwarz

set out to build upon the book by

answering the question: “What should we

eat?” Narrated by Pollan and featuring

interviews with more than 40 food and

nutrition experts, In Defense of Food brings

fresh research and stories to support the

now-popular thesis set forth in the book:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Link to the Article:

http://civileats.com/2015/11/30/what-

the-hunter-gatherers-from-in-defense-of-

food-can-teach-us-all-about-our-diets/

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

10

Another recent documentary explores the

ancient herbal medicines and the medical

advantages of the biodiversity of Earth.

Link to the Video:

http://www.thesacredscience.com/scree

ning_watchnow/

Call to Oppose the Dark Act

Today

Call your representatives to voice your

opposition the the Deny American the

Right to Know (Dark) Act, and your

support to label GMOs.

“nearly 300 environmental advocacy,

farming and fishing groups and food

companies voiced strong opposition to a

plan to tack a provision onto the omnibus

appropriations bill that would deny

consumers the right to know what it is in

their food and how it is grown.”

Link to the Article:

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2015/12/br

oad-coalition-opposes-hill-efforts-deny-

consumers-right-know

A new form of GMO technology presents

environmental impacts such as potential

off-target gene silencing and non-target

organism impacts not being assessed by

our current regulatory system.

Link to the Report:

http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/con

tent/63/8/657.full

Environmental Rights

Although the mission of Environmental

Voices is to provide information on toxic

chemicals and their impacts on the

environment, toxic human behaviors also

have incredible impacts on the

environment- from deforestation, which

is occurring at an increasing rate to this

day, to naval warfare testing, which is

currently expanding in the North Pacific.

The documentary “Blackfish” is an

incredible film and explains the life of

Tilikum, a captive killer whale currently

at SeaWorld, San Diego, that has killed

three people. He was captured from the

wild, like many captive orcas, and has

suffered unbelievably. Adam Schiff (D-

Burbank) has introduced the federal Orca

Responsibility and Care Advancement

(ORCA) Act.

Link to the Webpage:

http://schiff.house.gov/news/press-

releases/rep-schiff-to-introduce-orca-act-

to-phase-out-display-of-captive-killer-

whales

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

11

SeaWorld's recent announcement that

they will phase out orca shows to a more

natural, aquarium-like captive orca

exhibit falls short of modern knowledge

of the complex needs of these mammals.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editori

als/la-ed-seaworld-20151110-story.html

The poor health conditions observed by a

veterinarian during a recent visit in

response to a rash of orca and dolphin

deaths at the facility has sparked severe

criticism.

http://www.seaworldofhurt.com/feature

s/veterinarian-visits-seaworld/

Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo features

tigers, elephants and marine mammals.

Their orca, a highly intelligent, social

mammal, has never been housed with

another orca. Their elephants were all

captured from the wild. Please, don’t

support circus-like animal entertainment-

teach your kids about the importance of

conservation and preserving forests.

Link to the Article:

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animals

andnature/six-flags-discovery-kingdom-

theme-park-cruelty-isnt-amusement/

Wild orcas, including the endangered

Southern Resident Orca Pod in

Washington are threatened by

environmental chemicals such as PCBs,

reduced prey and boat interactions.

Whale watching, volunteering at marine

mammal centers, and other forms of

ecotourism are wonderful alternatives to

viewing captive animals for

entertainment.

OrcaConservancy Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/OrcaConserv

ancy/

Environmental Voices Dec 2015

12

Please consider the environment before printing this newsletter

A single tree absorbs up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide every year, and can sequester one ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches

40 years old!

...~***~…

Environmental Voices Contact info

Website: environmentalvoices.org

Phone : (916) 595-7197

Email: EVoices1@aol.com

Facebook: Environmental Voices

Twitter: Environmental Voices @EVoices

Published by: Environmental Voices Environmental Voices' mission is to provide research and education. The information in the EV newsletter is not necessarily the opinions of EV or its staff.

Thank you to all of you for supporting the efforts of Environmental Voices. Your donations are critical to produce environmental documentaries and educational materials and we thank you for your contributions to Environmental Voices. Please mail your tax deductable donation to: Environmental Voices P. O. Box 1953 Rocklin, CA 95677